World War II The first predecessor of the squadron was activated as the
481st Bombardment Squadron at
MacDill Field, Florida in July 1942 as one of the four original squadrons of the
336th Bombardment Group. It served as a
Replacement Training Unit (RTU) for
Martin B-26 Marauder crews. RTUs were oversized units that trained individual
pilots and
aircrews. The squadron relocated to several bases in Florida before settling at
Lake Charles Army Air Field, Louisiana in November 1943. The 481st and other training and support organizations at Lake Charles were disbanded and replaced by the 332d AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit, Medium Bombardment).
Tactical fighter unit In the summer of 1957,
Strategic Air Command (SAC) transferred its fighter units, including the
27th Strategic Fighter Wing at
Bergstrom Air Force Base, to
Tactical Air Command (TAC), which renamed the
wing the 27th Fighter-Bomber Wing. The wing was just beginning to convert from the
Republic F-84F Thunderstreak to the
McDonnell F-101 Voodoo. During this conversion, the wing added a fourth squadron, the
481st Fighter-Bomber Squadron, which was the second predecessor of the squadron. Although activated on 15 September, the squadron did not begin to become operational until about 17 December 1957. On 12 December 1957, the new squadron's first commander and wing F-101 project officer, Major Adrian E. Drew, flew a Voodoo to set a world speed record of 1,207.6 mph and 1,212.8 mph in the opposite direction over a closed course in the Mojave Desert. The squadron received personnel and F-101 aircraft early in 1958 and by mid-year, the 481st was combat ready. In January 1959 the redesignated
481st Tactical Fighter Squadron and become non-operational when the 27th Wing sent its F-101s to the United Kingdom. After the 27th Wing transferred its F-101 aircraft, the wing and its squadrons moved on paper to
Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, in February 1959. At Cannon, the wing absorbed the personnel and equipment of the
312th Tactical Fighter Wing, which was simultaneously inactivated. In this move, the squadron received the personnel and
North American F-100 Super Sabres of the
477th Tactical Fighter Squadron. In May 1964 it participated in Exercise Desert Strike, a joint Air Force and
Army training exercise in California, Nevada and Arizona that lasted two weeks and involved nearly 100,000 personnel, fifteen active Air Force fighter squadrons, and numerous other flying squadrons and support units from the active military, the
Air National Guard and the
Air Force Reserve. The 481st was selected as the outstanding fighter unit in TAC for two consecutive quarters in 1964. In June 1965, the squadron was the first to respond and depart during a full scale no-notice Operational Readiness Inspection conducted by a TAC inspection team.
Deployments Within five months of receiving their first F-100 aircraft, the 481st deployed to
Hahn Air Base, Germany, to engage in daytime
air defense operations. During this rotation, the squadron set a TAC record for deploying and redeploying without an abort or incident. During a deployment in April 1961, the 481st sent a flight of four F-100s non-stop from
Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, to
RAF Lakenheath, England. The aircraft returned to
England Air Force Base, Louisiana, in time for the entire squadron to deploy to
RAF Wethersfield, England, on 9 May 1961. On 12 June 1961, the squadron moved to
Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, to fulfill its first
NATO commitment. At Incirlik, the Squadron assumed an alert posture and remained until October of that year. This made room for the squadron, along with its parent wing and two sister squadrons to forward deploy to
MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. There it maintained a constant alert posture. Between 1963 and 1973, aircraft and personnel from the frequently 481st deployed to various parts of the world. It deployed to
Dhahran Air Base, Saudi Arabia for Operation Hard Surface. This operation started with another unit on 4 May 1963. The 481st participated in this operation from 14 November 1963 to 1 February 1964. The units assigned to this operation were awarded the
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award. In March, the 481st and the
429th Tactical Fighter Squadrons deployed to
Vahdati Air Base at
Dezful Iran, with 36 aircraft and over 500 personnel for
Exercise Delawar, a
Baghdad Pact-sponsored joint training exercise with the
Imperial Iranian Air Force. Later, in September 1964, the squadron was sent on a 120-day rotational deployment to
Misawa Air Base, Japan. During this time, some aircraft of the 481st also went to
Kung Kuan Air Base, Taiwan. While in Taiwan, the aircraft took part in Operation Sky Soldier VI.
Vietnam War The squadron made its first deployment to Southeast Asia on 10 November 1963 to
Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, where it spent 75 Days. In the Spring of 1965, the squadron was notified it would deploy to Vietnam in late June for a combat tour. On 11 June 1965, without prior warning, the squadron was alerted to deploy within twenty-four hours and left Cannon on 12 June 1965 under the code name Operation Two Buck 16. After a one-week delay at
Clark Air Base in the Philippines, the squadron arrived at
Tan Son Nhut Airport on 21 June 1965 and began flying combat missions on that first day in South Vietnam. On the night of 19 July, the Army
special forces camp at
Bu Dop, about 100 miles north of Saigon, came under attack by the
Viet Cong. Air strikes by the 481st were credited with "probably saving the camp that night". The squadron averaged over 30 sorties a days and by 6 September 1965, the Crusaders had completed 2,000 hours of combat flying. The squadron was programmed to return to Cannon in August, following the three-month cycle usual for fighter squadrons temporarily deployed to Vietnam up to this time. However, the Air Force was planning to deploy fighter units to Vietnam on a permanent basis, and needed time to prepare them. The squadron's deployment was extended through late November, when the first permanent squadrons began to arrive in Vietnam. When the North Vietnamese left Plei Me and
Pleiku, they moved west and the 481st again supported ground troops in the
Battle of Ia Drang Valley. By 27 November 1965, the 481st headed back to Cannon and had flown more than 3,600 combat sorties and established a 98% aircraft in commission rate. During this deployment to Vietnam, the 481st accumulated 5,025 hours of combat flight-time. ==Lineage==